A young firefighter has returned to his job after doctors saved his injured hand - by sewing it in into his stomach. Anthony Seward, 27, was forced to give up his dream job in the fire service when he was 'degloved' by an industrial mangle.
Anthony, who was 21 at the time, feared he would lose his left hand for good after it was caught in the unprotected machine at a textiles plant. But surgeons saved the limb by sewing it inside his stomach- creating a 'pocket' which kept it alive for three weeks.
Thanks to the quick-thinking medics, Anthony has returned to his dream job as a firefighter with Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service (DSFRS). He had only been in the fire team in his hometown of Tiverton, Devon, for a year when his left hand crushed it a factory he was also working at.
Anthony said: "I'd always wanted to help people and so the fire service was always something I was interested in. Every day is different, it's a challenging but great job. But at first I had to work a job on the side too - which is when I had my accident at a factory.
"The accident was pretty painful, though it was probably more painful seeing Chelsea lose in the football this season. My hand was crushed and I lost all of my grip strength and dexterity. It was quite a serious de-gloving injury.
"They had to perform four surgeries on my hand, but it was only when a surgeon said he would have to amputate the ends of my fingers that I realised I was never going to be a firefighter again. You feel invincible when you're younger and then one day something happens and you have a hard realisation that you're not. I had envisioned a long career in the fire service doing what I enjoyed. It's an incredible job, to have that taken away was devastating."
Anthony, who originally joined the service in 2015, had to have the tips of four of his fingers amputated after the accident. However surgeons saved the rest of his hand using a World War One-era technique of storing his smashed hand inside his abdomen to help it heal.
Amazingly he narrowly passed the minimum-expected grip tests to return to the job while studying a strength and conditioning course at the University of Birmingham. He has decided to study to move into the sports sector - hoping to work with a sports team to regain the lost camaraderie he had experienced in the fire service. But, during a test last September as part of his course, he realised that he was able to meet the minimum grip strength to rejoin the fire service.
He said: "I had given up on ever returning, but then as part of a module I tested my grip strength and I just barely passed. I suddenly realised that it might be possible to go back. I had been able to do deadlifts and pull-ups, grip strength was one of the last real physical barriers.
"Passing the test gave me a green light, so I just thought, 'this may actually be physically possible'. It was just up to me to work around practical demands of the job.
"I spent weeks modifying my old service gloves into a mitten for my hand and testing them out in training exercises. Eventually I asked to be re-admitted and passed the tests. It was quite surreal.
"Once I got back in they were really helpful to make sure I was practical and operational. I really wanted to be a help, not a hinderance. Now I'm just back to work.''
Anthony credits the 'amazing' work of the NHS, paramedics and air ambulance for his recovery.
He added: "I wouldn't be in this position without the NHS, without the work that my surgeons did initially, the air ambulance and the ambulance service as well. I'm in this position because of them. I'm extremely grateful, there's nothing I feel that I can do to repay them, but hopefully I can do good by being back in another time."
Anthony's former employers were fined £300,000 after admitting health and safety offences when they failed to replace a broken safety barrier on the mangle. The unusual op took place Southmead NHS Hospital in Bristol, called a Pedicled Abdominal Flap. It was separated from his abdomen and the skin was folded over to cover his entire hand which was put inside it.
